Will India benefit from the large number of Indian-origin ministers in Boris Johnson’s cabinet?

The catapulting of 39-year-old Rishi Sunak MP, who has less than five years’ experience in parliament, to the prized and influential post of chancellor of the exchequer in the British government is a stunning moment in United Kingdom’s politics.

It is certainly a far cry from the Bengali Lord Satyendra Sinha of Raipur being appointed under-secretary of state for India or a junior minister in Whitehall in 1919. (He had earlier been president of the Indian National Congress in 1915-16.)

With Sunak around the oval table at 10 Downing Street, are also ensconced Priti Patel, home secretary, always a powerful position, Alok Sharma, Business Secretary, a key player in the crucial sectors of commerce, industry and international trade, and Attorney General Suella Fernandes Braverman, the administration’s lawyer-in-chief.

The number of MPs of Indian descent in the House of Commons at 2.65% still falls short of the 3% mark, which is estimated to be the Indian-extraction population in Britain; but the number of cabinet ministers, that, too, in senior roles, more than compensates for the parliamentary deficit.

Dadabhai Naoroji of the Liberal party was the first Indian to be elected to the Commons. In fact, as far back as 1892. (He was also one of the founders of the Indian National Congress and thrice elected its president in 1886, 1893 and 1906.)

In the modern era, Keith Vaz of the Labour party blazed a trail by becoming an MP in 1987 and remained undefeated until his retirement last December, when he was persuaded to step down because of a controversy that had erupted about him encouraging drugs, which he denies.

Vaz was in his career helpful on innumerable occasions to India and Indians. He also infamously assisted the Narendra Modi government’s bizarre request for British travel documents for an alleged fugitive from Indian justice Lalit Modi, after India had cancelled the latter’s passport.

However, significantly during his 32 years in parliament, he rarely defended India on, say, an uncomfortable issue like Kashmir. Whenever this subject is raised in the Commons, generally by pro-Pakistan MPs, Indian-origin lawmakers are mysteriously missing in action, often leaving Virendra Sharma to wage a lonely battle.

The rise of uncaring rightism, even racism in the Conservative party with the coming of Margaret Thatcher, which lingered until David Cameron attempted to correct this, earned it the label of “the nasty party”.

Today, the Conservatives are a multi-coloured organisation; yet it was the continuing clout of the unpleasant forces that compelled an unnecessary referendum on Britain’s future in the European Union (EU) and consequently an agonising Brexit.

Patel, Braverman and Sunak are subscribers to such ultra-nationalism. On the other hand, Agra-born Alok Sharma supported the UK remaining in the EU. He has been groomed in Conservative politics from boyhood, for his father Prem Sharma was a local councillor of the party.

The off-spring was granted no favours, though. He had to conjure a 30% swing in his favour at his Reading constituency in 2010 to gain what had been a safe Labour seat. He hasn’t looked back since; and is, along with Shailesh Vara, the most politically seasoned among Conservative MPs and therefore quite well placed for the long haul.

But notwithstanding the Conservatives being a right-wing party, it is not fascist or given to religious bigotry. Indeed, Winston Churchill of the same organisation, while no friend of India, fought Nazi Germany like a bulldog to erase the scourge of Nazism in Europe.

Those of Indian ancestry in the fold today are, though, publicly silent on the excesses of the Modi regime in India. This is true of several Labour MPs as well, many of whom profess socialism, but pander to sectarian views of their constituents. Virendra Sharma has admittedly expressed concern, but couched this in diplomatic tone.

In contrast, Patel and Braverman give the impression of being rabidly right-wing, certainly incredibly hostile towards the EU. The former has, besides, long been a proponent of pulling up the drawbridge against immigration. An uncritical Narendra Modi admirer, her voting record in the Commons suggests she is not exactly enthusiastic about human rights and even prescribes a restoration of capital punishment.

The number of MPs of partly or wholly Indian background in the Commons has increased to 17 after the midterm general election held in December. Of these, nine are from Labour, seven from the Conservative party and one from the Liberal Democrats. The first timers in this group are Navendu Mishra of Labour, Gagan Mohindra and Claire Coutinho of Conservative and Munira Wilson of Lib Dems.

Meanwhile, Sunak has been set a blistering pace of having to present a budget in the Commons in a mere month since his instalment as chancellor. Having been the understudy as chief secretary to the treasury has of course been helpful. But he is not a speaker who captures an audience. So, his style will be as much under scrutiny as the substance of his proposals, where he has no alternative to being on the same page as his mentor and patron Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Sitting in the now depleted Labour benches will be the rising star there among those with Indian antecedents – Lisa Nandy.

She may not win the current long drawn out contest in her party for its leadership; but is bound to emerge as a heavyweight on its front row, with the potential of becoming a senior cabinet minister in future.